Nurse becomes youngest manager at Northwich care home

Five years on from being greeted at Liverpool airport by the manager of Sharston House nursing home, in Knutsford, where she was to start her nursing career, she has enjoyed a meteoric career rise.

After swiftly earning promotion to clinical lead, she became deputy manager before moving to Kingsley Healthcare’s flagship Four Oaks care home, in Partington, as deputy manager.

Now, following a maternity leave break, Diana has been announced at the age of 29 as Kingsley Healthcare Group’s youngest care home manager at Redwalls Nursing Home, in Sandiway, near Northwich.

Diana, mother to nine-month-old Eva, said: "It was quite scary as it was my first visit to England.

"I remember my arrival at the airport was in the middle of the night.

"I had not been married long but I left my husband behind in Romania; my English was not as good as it is now and I slept in the attic at Sharston House during my first three weeks here."

Diana with husband Radu and daughter Eva.

Diana, who finished nursing college in Romania in 2014, was relieved to find rented accommodation and be able to invite husband Radu over to join her.

In a double Kingsley Healthcare success story, he has risen from a kitchen assistant to become head chef at Sharston House.

The couple now live in their own home in Warrington and are settled in the UK.

Diana said: "I want us to be like a big family at Redwalls.

"I talk to staff before making any big decisions and I put the accent on the needs of the residents and their families.

"I am blessed to have some really good staff, including a brilliant activities team. It is wonderful to see the residents looking happy and fulfilled."

She said she hoped her success might prove an inspiration for other young nurses.

"I am delighted that Kingsley Healthcare had faith in me and gave me my chance," she added.